ALBANY – State Senator George Latimer (D, Westchester) introduced legislation to protect New York from changes in wetlands protection proposed by President Trump.
The bill would allow the state Department of Environmental Conservation to protect smaller wetlands, as small as one acre. Current law provides state wetlands protections for those that are 12.4 acres or larger and those found to be of “unusual local importance” by the DEC commissioner.
As a member of the minority Democratic caucus in the state Senate, Latimer acknowledges it could be a hard fight to have the law changed.
“A number of Republicans in the Senate, particularly those from Long Island and some of our Hudson Valley colleagues, have fashioned an environmental record,” Latimer said. “We believe we can show the common interest of protection of the Hudson Valley, Long Island Sound and the open ocean by this, and that the merit of the bill gives its legs, not necessarily the political support of the bill.”
The legislation would make wetlands one acre or larger subject to regulation and include smaller wetlands that are adjacent to water bodies, or those deemed to be of “significant local importance.”
